Month: April 2018

“When we see teachers and students learn how to properly share content, and how their global audience takes note, it is amazing how students’ interest and motivation soars.”

Now Classrooms K-2 book

What I am thankful for…

As a mom, I am thankful that my children’s teachers use Twitter to share what happens in the classroom.

As an educator, I am thankful that teachers worldwide share their ideas on Twitter.

As a classroom teacher, I am thankful that I found a way for my students to share, in their own words, both to their teacher, parent and other students all at the same time through the free app, Seesaw Learning Journal.

My journey on how to “properly share content”-

It all started with Twitter. When our district started first using Twitter years ago, it was something that some teachers gravitated to and others stayed far away from. For me, I logged on and was simply an observer for a while. I sat and watched what others were doing in their classroom and how they were sharing information. Then one day, I got brave. After checking my “Do not photo list” I decided it was time to post about my classroom

Here are my first two posts from 2013:

What I realized quickly, was that people were watching. My district was watching, my bosses were watching, other teachers were watching and parents were watching. Twitter was the first avenue I used to help parents and others understand what happened in the kindergarten classroom. It was a way for parents to engage in a rich conversation with their children about something that happened during their day.

I found a way to share my experiences with a local and global audience, but I needed something that the students could do with more independence.

In 2015, I was introduced to Seesaw. Again, I went to a class about it and then…I waited. I am not sure what got me to try it for the first time, but I am beyond happy that I did. What I realized quickly, was that when I used Seesaw, “students interest soared” and SO did their learning.

Here is an example from one of my first years using Seesaw. This is a non-English speaking student. It shows how he was able to collaborate in a meaningful way with his peers to better understand a challenging science concept. I chose this video for the blog because I think it shows how collaboration and use of technology also has a hands-on, personal side. Imagine the social-emotional learning and cooperation that happened at this center while this student was creating this video: Collaborating, communicating, critical thinking and creativity. He as doing it all. The best part is, that as a teacher, I could evaluate his understanding of science vocabulary and concepts (at a convenient time for me) and his parents could hear what his was doing in school.

The power that we have as teachers when we find the right tools is truly amazing. When we can share what is happening it the classroom with peers, parents, teachers and the world, the desire to learn truly deepens. It is my hope, you will read this today and become inspired to try something free…and new… that can be life changing in your educational career!

Tell us about your experience on Twitter using #nowclassrooms and tag me @MrsHatlen

When I first began incorporating technology into my Kindergarten classroom, I would have never thought coding was something we would even talk about. When someone said the word coding to me, I automatically thought of older students coding games and apps but I soon learned that my initial thoughts about coding were far from reality!

When first introducing the idea of code to my class, I showed students videos from the Hour of Code website. (www.code.org). They have some great videos that introduce coding to students in an age-appropriate way and they were very interesting to our students. They wanted to learn more!

Once my students had a basic understanding of what coding was, we practice some real life coding! We asked our students to code the teacher! This is now an activity we do every year because it helps our students to get some hands-on practice as a large group and our kids LOVE it. The K-2 NOW classroom book has for more specifics on how to do this activity!

The next step to coding was to let our students have some time to explore some coding apps. There are a lot of great options, but we started with two of our favorites….codables and bee-bots. Our students worked together in pairs to try to solve the puzzle and get from one end to the other. They were hooked and they could not get enough!

Finally, we moved from the basic Novice and Operational lessons of coding to the Wow! We were ready to code a toy Mouse. Our students worked in small groups using problem-solving skills, taking turns, listening, observing, and speaking to one another to get the job done! The 4 C’s of collaboration, creativity, communication, and critical thinking were evident throughout the entire activity! Our Kinders love any chance they get to practice their critical thinking skills to code and we often integrate them throughout all the subject areas!

Here is an example of some coding we did this week with Earth Day and 3D shapes!

The students were proud to share their work on @Seesaw with their parents and an authentic audience on Twitter. I hope our student products inspire other teachers and students to try coding in the classroom. Please share your examples with our authors and readers using the hashtag #NOWclassrooms

Students were again asked to code our toy mouse but first, they needed to create a pattern using the 3D shape Earth Day pictures. The patterns they created varied in difficulty from simple AB patterns to more difficult ABC and ABB patterns. They even tried to “trick” the mouse by putting the wrong pattern throughout the open portions of the maze. This activity was out at our centers all week and they asked for it again this week! That is a teacher win! Check out the K-2 Now Classrooms book for additional activities you can use right now to integrate coding into your curriculum because Kindergarteners can code too!